POCK-ih-stan or PACK-ih-stan?

[xash]

@AK84

PaH-Kiss-Tahn.

Here is a english language documentary from Pakistan (on its military), here the narrators prononciation.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UYGJ-RHGUQ

This is how it’s pronounced by locals.

Obama’s pronunciation is more correct than most Americans, who say PACK-ISS-TAN. Obama’s mother worked in Pakistan for some time, and he visited Pakistan when he was young, which is why I guess he’s familiar with the native pronunciation.

The actual pronunciation of the T in PakisTan is different from how any American says it. Here’s my previous explanation on the dope about it:

@xash

Obama pronounces Pakistan as the locals do. Taliban, locally, is pronounced taa-li-baan, with a soft T sound that no American I know seems to be able to differentiate from a hard T sound. It’s a sound that I think doesn’t exist in the English language, or at least I’m unable to find a word that uses it, to be able to explain the difference to my friends.

The closest I can come to an explanation is this:

Say tree. Now say three. See where your tongue is when you say three? It’s not the same place as tree, right? Now say T with your tongue at the the position where you start the word three. That’s a soft T sound. Am I making any sense?

Next time you meet a South Asian friend, ask them to pronounce a native language word that uses a soft T and a hard T, and see if you can make out the difference. Chances are, you can’t.

And here’s some more trivia: -stan (from Sanskrit) means place, e.g.:

Afghanistan = Place of the Afghanis
Hindustan (India) = Place of the Hindus